LEGAL LYNCHING: The Death Penalty and America's Future

In this collaborative work, the Jacksons, father (former presidential candidate and founder of the Rainbow Coalition) and son (a congressional representative) with Salon.com editor Shapiro, pursue a nationwide conversation on the issues surrounding the death penalty—one that begins with the proposal of a moratorium and could lead to the eventual cessation of capital punishment. This book describes a bureaucratic nightmare involving defense lawyers asleep at trial, vengeance-hungry politicos and a problematic, imperfect justice system in which the handing out of death sentences is skewed, both racially and economically. An objective examination of this penal system would be beneficial to all, say the authors: since the Supreme Court allowed executions to resume in 1976, one in every eight prisoners on death row has been found innocent and released. There are undoubtedly cases, the authors argue, where the proof of innocence didn't see the light of day in time. Navigating the historical precedents of the death penalty and the reasons why federally mandated executions were restored following a 10-year moratorium imposed in 1967, the authors thoroughly detail legitimate questions regarding what they view as erroneous deterrence theories, scriptural misrepresentation and simple vengeance. "Today's executions are exercises in the engineering of death, the institutionalizing of death, the bureaucratizing of death," they conclude. This will be a must-read for anti-death penalty advocates, who may find the arguments familiar but forcefully put. Their effective presentation might give pause even to those who believe executions are justified. 12 b&w photos not seen by PW.(Oct.)

Forecast:A hot political topic and high-visibility father-and-son authors guarantee media attention for this that should generate at least an initial spike in sales.